Does this pedal exist?

[che_guitarra]

Hi everybody and welcome to 2023


I've just put together a Warmoth superstrat. It has a single humbucker in the bridge - a Duncan Custom.

This guitar is an absolute blast to play. But unfortunately, the pickup is so hot it's causing signal clip in a few of my pedals. A good thing in a distortion pedal. Not such a good thing in a reverb or chorus pedal. The pickup is sitting a mile away from the strings.

I also have a couple of EMG loaded guitars that will get the same pedals clipping, but nowhere near as much as the Duncan Custom.


I'm thinking that if I have more control over the pickup's bass response, I can manage the problem energy spectrum more effectively, and downstream pedals might be less likely to clip. If that logic makes sense? So basically, i'm looking for a pedal with a variable HPF, maybe a level control, and maybe a high quality buffer. That way I can painlessly switch from my bread-and-butter vintage output single-coil guitars to the highest output modern humbuckers, and eliminate the need to tweak pedal settings, ride volume knobs, engage pads, change pickup heights, etc etc.

I'm only finding one pedal that seems to fit the bill (H+LPF from Houghton Audio). I don't have my finger on the pulse of what's out there as much as some other people, so throwing it out there in hopes there's other options worth looking at.

Any suggestions?

 

[beaubrummels]

Two things:
1. never had such a problem; I'm surprised; makes me think you've got something else in the chain boosting the signal before the pedals that clip
2. based on the description, a Baxandall or shelf EQ might serve to level things out on the low end

 

[che_guitarra]

Yes it's very odd. First time for me, too.

I thought maybe I was running signal too hot into my DAW, but gain staging is perfect - all meters reading green and healthy at every observable stage. But the same clipping is audible when I plug into a real amp, so that tells me the problem is upstream at the pedalboard. It's a very particular sound too - play through a clean amp with said pedals engaged and it sounds horrible. Pedals off and the clipping is nowhere to be ofund.

And only happening on the high output guitars I own, which is only two or three.

The worst pedal affected is a Catalinabread FX40 reverb. I thought i might just be digital artefacts. But it's also making my Dunlop Echoplex preamp and Analogman chorus clip. I'm not stacking pedals for this to occur either - they're clipping in isolation.

 

[playas]

Sounds very odd. Can you compare playing one of the (reverb etc.) pedals alone through an amp to see if they are still clipping?

It's not even a high output pickup, it's medium output.

Even though they are not clipping at the DAW it sounds like the signal is much stronger than the pedals are expecting.

Is it possible the signal is hotter than instrument level? i.e. Could you have something set to line level?

 

[Mincer]

How does it sound going direct into the amp? Still sound too hot? Gradually add one pedal until you hear the signal jump.

 

[che_guitarra]

I can hear it through my modern Marshall or old Fender clone, Neural DSP plugins, old POD - same audible outcome through any platform. No problems if the pedals are stomped off - sounds great. Engage any of the problem pedals and the clipping is right there. I can make a video tomorrow, but almost 10pm here right now.

As said above, the FX40 reverb is the worst for it. You can mask it under higher gain, but as soon as you clean up the amp the clipping pokes right back out. The FX40 is new to my pedalboard so I thought maybe it could be faulty. But same clipping (to a lesser extend) via my Dunlop Echoplex Preamp and Analogman Chorus. So it's not a digital thing, or a modulation thing. Or an active pickup thing. Hmmm.

I've wound the pickup down an extra 3mm below what I think sounds best to try and reduce the output - robbing some mojo to try get rid of it, but hit an open low E it's still there. Combine that with rolling my volume back to halfway and then I can get rid of it. But what a PITA that is just to make this guitar play nice with a couple of pedals.


I'm wondering if it might be an impedance thing? Ot maybe the problem pedals are a little voltage starved? I'm really not sure, but will be happy to get to the bottom of it

 

[che_guitarra]

Even though they are not clipping at the DAW it sounds like the signal is much stronger than the pedals are expecting.

Is it possible the signal is hotter than instrument level? i.e. Could you have something set to line level?

I'm not sure any of the pedals have a line level option.
But yet - absolutely - the signal is too hot for certain pedals on my board - a problem i've never had to resolve before.

 

[che_guitarra]

Hi again guys. A short video of the problem.

Just an FYI - i'm not boosting the signal when I engage the pedal - pedal gain is below unity, and is actually slightly quieter in the room... some kind of auto-levelling setting with the GoPro mic going on there.



And for reference - the 'hot' guitar:

And pedalboard. Problem pedals are on the left. Video above is made by engaging the FX40 reverb with the green stripe. But same problem (to a lesser extent) with my Echoplex preamp and Analogman chrous pedals.

 

['59]

Mad Proffesor Underdrive might be in order.

Also have you done anything to suppress the transients? They are non audible components of the guitar signal that can cause whacky problems as you describe with digital interfaces.

 

[beaubrummels]

If the distorted signal is actually quieter in the room, one thought might be the power the pedals are getting. Are you certain you have enough total amperage to satisfy the pedals in question?

 

[Mincer]

Is the reverb hitting a distorted preamp or amp sim?

 

[NegativeEase]

A used Boss GE-7 seems to be a cheap/ easy solution for this -sculpt the tone a little if you need, make a kind of HPF if you want and lower output level for your next pedals.

 

[che_guitarra]

Is the reverb hitting a distorted preamp or amp sim?

Hi Mincer. No not at all. The Soldano plug is set on the clean channel, and as clean as it can get. Pre and master controls about 5 or 6 (out of 11). My DAW meters are also visible in the video (in the top left) - they're barely hitting halfway, so the gain staging is super, super low.


But just to confirm - this is not DAW-related clipping. I get the same clipping from the pedal's regardless of what I am plugging into - my Marshall Vintage Modern, or my Fender Deluxe or Princeton clones. And the clipping goes away if I bypass the effect.

It's something about this particular guitar that is getting the pedal to clip. I'm assume it's bass energy, as this pickups seems to pass a lot more bass than any other guitar I own.

 

[beaubrummels]

It's something about this particular guitar that is getting the pedal to clip. I'm assume it's bass energy, as this pickups seems to pass a lot more bass than any other guitar I own.

Given that hypothesis, I'd try one of two things:

1. Try a quality compressor/limiter on the clean guitar before it hits any other pedals
2. Try an EQ that smoothes out the bass before it hits any other pedals.

 

[jeremy]

the sh5 custom isnt that hot, im surprised its clipping things. what are you using to power everything? as beau said, might not have enough juice. have you pulled the pedals off the board and tried pulling some out of the chain to see if one is causing the issue as mincer suggested?

 

[beaubrummels]

A couple more things I noticed after looking more into it: note, I don't own these pedals, so I'm going off the product manuals/descriptions, but...

There is a possibility your Echoplex and Caitlinbread are breaking up for different reasons.

The FX40 manual states it will have more headroom if you run it at 18v with 100mA. If not already, try running it with an 18v power supply that supports at least 100mA current.

The Echoplex preamp manual states at 7 and above, it's designed to start breaking up, which is near where it appears to be set in your photo (yeah yeah it looks like 6, but...). Try dialing it back to a lower levell, or even just 5 (which equals 0db) just to see if it cleans up.

The Analogman chorus has like 18 freaking different options you can order and I have no idea what you have, so I can't comment on that one.

 

[che_guitarra]

It has to be that, right? This makes the most sense to me.

My power supply is a Cioks (DC10?).
Catalinbread is running at 12V. Analogman at 15v. Echoplex at 9v. That's the most I voltage I can throw with this unit. No more spare ports.

I'll see if I have an 18v wall wart in my drawers somewhere.


Thanks for the suggestions guys. If I were a detective, I think the chief suspect has just been found.

 

[chadd]

The best way to isolate a problem is to test the pedals one at a time. If none of them do it in isolation, add in another and another until you find the problem.